She said passengers were seeing no improvements despite five changes in the rail network's structure since Labour first won power.

In his statement Mr Darling said that the rail network had been left fragmented, excessively complex and dysfunctional due to privatisation under the previous Tory government.

But he warned that the government did not favour renationalisation because it would not solve the network's problems.

Mr Darling also made it clear that there would be a continuing role for the Strategic Rail Authority and its chairman Richard Bowker. That followed speculation that the SRA chairman would be forced to quit.

Weekend newspaper reports predicted Mr Darling was preparing to strip the
SRA of much of its powers, amid concerns over its effectiveness.

We are moving back towards creating some sort of funny hybrid in which the state is largely in control